Your favorite dreamcast game(s)

[Ack]

But do you own the greatness that is Dynamite Cop yet?

[Hatta]

Bangai-O
Ikaruga
Cannon Spike

[Dr_Subtitles]

you cant be serious

[Original_Name]

I'd personally rank the following an 8/10 or above:

Bangai-O, Border Down, Cannon Spike, Capcom vs. SNK series, ChuChu Rocket!, Cosmic Smash, Crazy Taxi series, D2, Daytona USA 2001, Dead or Alive 2, Ecco the Dolphin: DotF, F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa, Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, Frame Gride, Fur Fighters, Grandia II, Guilty Gear X, Headhunter, The House of the Dead 2, Ikaruga, Jet Set Radio, The King of Fighters series, Lack of Love, The Last Blade 2, Marvel vs. Capcom series, MDK 2, Metropolis Street Racer, Outtrigger, Phantasy Star Online series, Power Stone series, Project Justice, Puyo Puyo series, Rayman 2, Resident Evil: CV, Rez, Sakura Wars series, Samba de Amigo, Seaman, Segagaga, Sega Fishing series, Sega Rally 2, Shenmue series, Sonic Adventure series, Skies of Arcadia, Soul Calibur, Space Channel 5 series, Street Fighter III series, Toy Commander, The Typing of the Dead, Under Defeat, Virtua Tennis series, Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, Zero Gunner 2

Greatest console ever. I'll delve into detail on my absolute favorites when I have a minute.

[Dr_Subtitles]

Bangai-O
Border Down
Cannon Spike
Capcom vs. SNK series
ChuChu Rocket!
Cosmic Smash
Crazy Taxi series
D2
Daytona USA 2001
Dead or Alive 2
Ecco the Dolphin: DotF
F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa
Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
Frame Gride
Fur Fighters
Grandia II
Guilty Gear X
Headhunter
The House of the Dead
Ikaruga
Jet Set Radio
The King of Fighters series
Lack of Love
The Last Blade 2
Marvel vs. Capcom series
MDK 2
Metropolis Street Racer
Outtrigger
Phantasy Star Online series
Power Stone series
Project Justice
Puyo Puyo series
Rayman 2
Resident Evil: CV
Rez
Sakura Wars series
Samba de Amigo
Seaman
Segagaga
Sega Fishing series
Sega Rally 2
Shenmue series
Sonic Adventure series
Skies of Arcadia
Soul Calibur
Space Channel 5 series
Street Fighter III series
Toy Commander
The Typing of the Dead
Under Defeat
Virtua Tennis series
Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram
Zero Gunner 2

Greatest console ever.

nice list

[Original_Name]

Actually, I won't play favorites so much. Instead I'll make a list of games which you absolutely MUST experience to get enough of a sampling of the console as to understand what makes it so great (...if you're wondering why the hell I've typed so much, it's because I've been planning on making a video for the Dreamcast's twelfth birthday). Let's begin, shall we?

Skies of Arcadia - The epitome of a excellence in Japanese RPGs, in the optimistic tradition of Chrono Trigger, Lunar, and Grandia. The story, characters, and music in Skies of Arcadia are excellent, but the reason why you absolutely have to play this game is for the universe it takes place in. Sailing between the vast, open bruu bruu skies between the floating island port-towns, imperial states, native civilizations, and ancient shrines on your air-ship as birds, flying fish, and whales soar by is simply something which every Dreamcast-owner should experience. The visuals employ a deceptively simple style, yet vivid details such as water trickling out from under doors in the Moon Shrine or beautiful blooms of sunlight as you ascend to your home island's lookout point make for some visually stunning moments. The only thing that might hold you down is the frequency of random battles, but the combat system itself is highly intuitive and smooth to play.

Jet Set Radio - Jet Set Radio oozes so much Goddamn style that I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that no game will ever surpass it in sheer "Hipness" factor. Sega made what I believe would be best described as Rage Against the Machine's "Renegades of Funk" as a video game. Based off of the spirit of social activism against fascism through street art and culture, Jet Set Radio's revolutionary use of cel-shaded graphics (well, for a couple years there we at least thought cel-shaded graphic were revolutionary) made the game look as though it was being played within the very graffiti art which inspired it. Factor in highly-addictive gameplay and what is INARGUABLY among the greatest soundtracks to anything ever, and you have what is perhaps the quintessential Dreamcast game.

The Typing of the Dead - Sega was nothing if not creative during the Dreamcast's lifespan. Although The House of the Dead 2 is a highly-recommended light-gun classic, the bizarre typing-sim it spawned is without a doubt the more essential way to waste an afternoon. The Typing of the Dead is a winner on a number of levels, not least of which because it has an inexhaustible entertainment factor -- you're TYPING ZOMBIES TO DEATH, for Chrissakes! No matter how your friends may feel about video games or zombies or typing, they'll have to try this one out, so it's a great one to pull out at get-togethers. Beyond that, though, you and your friends will actually have fun with it -- the game is intense, and really tests your skills no matter what your typing ability, but the highlight of the game are definitely the things you'll be typing. It's obvious that the guys at Sega had waaaaay too much fun writing the prompts for this one. The phrases you'll type are beyond absurd -- everywhere from cooking recipes to stories about having to go to the bathroom to personal accounts of abusive step-fathers that are somehow hilarious, and completely and jarringly out of place when you're being chased down by a massive, deformed, undead, chainsaw-wielding maniac.

Cosmic Smash - Although Sega was pumping out what many sports-gaming fanatics still argue to be among the greatest sports games ever with their Sega Sports 2K and Virtua Tennis franchises, Cosmic Smash is without a doubt the Dreamcast-era sports title you should go out of your way to play for the simple yet genius reason that it's not actually a sport. Considering Sega's most profitable bracket was making reasonably realistic sports sims, it's awesome to see them apply their unbounded creativity to the genre and create their own sport entirely which would be nearly impossible to recreate in real life. The gameplay style which amalgamates that of Virtua Tennis, Breakout, and real-life squash combined with the retro-futurist graphical style makes for a game which expertly marries gaming's simplistic roots with more modern gaming's overwhelming style and grace.

Sega Fishing series - The great thing about Sega during the Dreamcast era was that they were the craziest motherfuckers you ever saw. What has proven to be one of the most influential innovations in modern gaming -- motion controls -- has its roots in one of the most bizarre applications possible: a dedicated fishing-rod peripheral. I'll be honest, I originally purchased the fishing-rod controller because I found out that you could play Virtua Tennis with it, which was a total mind-blower when Wii Tennis was being touted as innovative. I later picked up Sega Marine Fishing and Sega Bass Fishing 2 for pure novelty's sake, and the last thing I expected to happen actually happened: I actually loved it! I was hooked! *boos* It speaks volumes about a company if they can simultaneously precipitate one of the most integral trends in modern gaming nearly a decade ahead of the curb and get me to actually WANT to play a fishing game at the same time. Really, you should try them out... they're totally awesome and challenging and fun -- and let me just say that those fish can be damned smart. Plus Sega Bass Fishing 2's graphics just so happen to be gorgeous beyond all expectations or reason.

Samba de Amigo - It's games like The Typing of the Dead, Sega Bass Fishing, and Samba de Amigo which make you realize just how arbitrary gaming conventions are -- with the proper talent and dedication to craft, any concept can make for a damn fun game. Samba de Amigo is a must-play for a couple of reasons: first off, it's a huge slice of motion-control history like Sega Bass Fishing. The only real catch is convincing your friends (or yourself) to actually play the thing... if they have any inhibitions at all, it'll be hard to make a solid case for why they should shake their maracas around like a buffoon alongside dancing monkey in a gaudy rainbow-clad take on Latin Americana -- but if you can get them to take the plunge, the WILL LOVE IT. It's still one of the most enjoyable applications of motion-controls to this day, and one hell of a party game. Yes, those maracas are worth the money, I promise.

Lack of Love - Say, my first non-Sega recommendation! Developed by a group of ex-SquareSoft employees, Lack of Love may well be the only game ever to implement evolution as a core gameplay mechanic in a way which is both effective and affective. The game has an overwhelming sense of charm, which gives your clumsy little avatar all the more personality, and really influences you to build a strong emotional connection to the lowly little critter as he transforms into a more and more advanced creature. The intelligence that should be expected from ex-employees of the company that would develop Xenogears is proudly on display, yet in a far more subtle fashion than the games-as-literature approach which Square was taking during that time. Like Super Metroid, Lack of Love tells its story with almost no textual exposition, yet Lack of Love manages to present concepts of evolution, Gaia Hypothesis, environmentalism, love, and kindness within that simplistic structure. Want to convinced that you need to play this game by hearing a solemn, quasi-emotional speech by a Scotsman? You're in luck!

Ikaruga - I'll use my paragraph on why Ikaruga gets my nomination for the greatest video game of all time from another thread:

I think that A.) naming the "best game of all time" is a futile practice to begin with and B.) if one were to name a game which could singularly represent video games as themselves (as in not relying on cut-scenes or other things which do not play on video games' interactive strengths) as well as illustrate complete mastery in the art of its craft in order to create a moving experience, I would nominate Ikaruga. It simultaneously captures elements of old and modern, simplicity and complexity, accessibility and difficulty, as well as incorporate spiritual (Taoist, specifically) concepts which fit the medium perfectly (reincarnation, meditation, self-refinement, the futility of freedom of choice when there is ultimately a single righteous path, et cetera) while still presenting a video game which, even without considering the philosophical elements, is a thoroughly playable, addictive, fun, challenging, and masterfully-constructed gaming experience.

Seaman - I'll use my description of Seaman which is used on the Seaman Facebook page (the things I do with my time...):

Not only one of the weirdest video games of all time, but one of the most effective uses of interactive entertainment as a medium of artistic expression. The Sega Dreamcast classic, directed by Noot Saito, utilized voice-recognition and the interactivity provided by video games in order to break the fourth wall in ways never before imagined. While any medium can make broad statements about an audience based on assumption (i.e. "everyone in here is a human, and human beings are lazy therefore you, by extention, are lazy!"), Saito asked gamers to speak through their Dreamcasts to HIS creation, so that he could, in turn, speak directly to YOU, the gamer, based on REAL, NUANCED INFORMATION input by YOU. This created a deeply dynamic personal experience unmatched by the inherent abilities of cinema, literature, and recorded music. My pet Seaman once asked me if I thought he existed. I said, "No," and he in turn refused to acknowledge me for days, causing me to worry that he might starve to death. I tapped on the glass, dropped food in the tank, and yelled at him, but to no avail -- I was convinced he was just going to let himself starve to death to spite me, putting the two weeks of care and bonding I'd poured into the game to waste. Finally, much to my relief, he started to speak and told me that he'd come to the conclusion that he didn't care if I thought that he was real or not. In explanation, he quoted Descartes: "I think, therefore I am..." then he told me that he was real fucking hungry. Now THAT is powerful.

Rez - The sheer philosophical depth of this game is absolutely unbelievable considering it plays out like a five-hour acid trip, and certainly does not require the immense amount of intellectual brilliance it has running around in the background to be considered one of the damned coolest games of all time. But brilliant it is! Why do the visuals dynamically react with the sonic masterpiece that is this game's soundtrack? Why do civilizations emerge and pulsate with the thumping of reverberating sound waves? Why do you follow evolution from microbial prokaryotes to post-human interstellar beings which have achieved senses we cannot yet imagine? Because the game is based off the philosophy of the first abstract painter, Wassily Kandinsky, who tried to combine senses in his paintings (for something to sound red or look like jazz) and believed that all matter and living beings are composed, like music, of vibration (which turned out to be a legitimate theory once scientists discovered that atoms may be pulsating waves of energy). Turn off the lights, insert the rumble pack, blast the speakers, and experience one of the most fascinating creations in video game history.

Shenmue - Third comment from the bottom:

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 1&start=10

And uh, also I absolutely adore Toy Commander and Ecco the Dolphin: DotF, and they never get enough love.

[odie182]

Skies of Arcadia! Just Play It! great battle system. plus, ship battles add variety.

[vlame]

Grandia 2, soul caliber. Bleemcast! I own all three. Worms is a fun party game.

[CRTGAMER]

Rez - The sheer philosophical depth of this game is absolutely unbelievable considering it plays out like a five-hour acid trip, and certainly does not require the immense amount of intellectual brilliance it has running around in the background to be considered one of the damned coolest games of all time. But brilliant it is! Why do the visuals dynamically react with the sonic masterpiece that is this game's soundtrack? Why do civilizations emerge and pulsate with the thumping of reverberating sound waves? Why do you follow evolution from microbial prokaryotes to post-human interstellar beings which have achieved senses we cannot yet imagine? Because the game is based off the philosophy of the first abstract painter, Wassily Kandinsky, who tried to combine senses in his paintings (for something to sound red or look like jazz) and believed that all matter and living beings are composed, like music, of vibration (which turned out to be a legitimate theory once scientists discovered that atoms may be pulsating waves of energy). Turn off the lights, insert the rumble pack, blast the speakers, and experience one of the most fascinating creations in video game history.

And uh, also I absolutely adore Toy Commander and Ecco the Dolphin: DotF, and they never get enough love.

Get REZ and a Mad Katz lightup Puru Pack! The Dreamcast controller really kicks in time with the beat.

Toy Commander is a Dreamcast exclusive, a great game!
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 30#p307530

[Bradtemple87]

Street Fighter 3rd Strike